Last Wednesday the FDA unveiled a new set of warning labels for cigarette packaging. The new warning labels are 36 proposed pictures, which will eventually be narrowed down to the nine pictures most effective at stopping smoking. These labels will be required on all cigarettes in the United States by October 2012.
These pictures are not going to be a simple no smoking sign. They are graphic pictures designed to elicit a strong desire to stop smoking in the buyers. Get ready for pictures of dead bodies, children crying, rotting teeth and cancer patients in the last stage of their disease.
I consider myself to be neutral on the smoking/no smoking issue. I don't smoke and have no desire to. I tend to hang around friends that do not smoke as well. I hate walking behind a smoker on campus, and I agree that smokers shouldn't be allowed to huddle around a doorway during the winter time. If cigarettes are so important to you, it won't hurt you to huddle around the corner in the cold for five minutes while you get your fix.
I do, however, have very mixed feelings about the new labels. The FDA and anti-smoking groups claim that they will cause a major decline in smoking by providing a graphic reminder of the consequences involved. The tobacco companies claim that they will have no effect and will only demoralize and stigmatize smokers. I am not sure that I believe either of the groups is correct.
The majority of smokers today know the negative effects of smoking. For whatever reason, they decide to ignore them and continue smoking. These pictures may be shocking for the first month that they are released, but by Christmas time they will be old news. Any smokers who failed to quit will probably be desensitized to them and will only consider them a nuisance.
Meanwhile, non-smokers will be forced to see constant pictures of dead bodies and blackened teeth every time they walk into a gas station, stand near a smoker or just walk down the street. I constantly see empty cigarette packaging all over the ground. Now instead of just having to look at litter, I have to stare at disgusting images all day.
If we are going to do this with cigarettes, why stop there? They might as well put images of extreme drunk driving accidents on alcohol. Let's add pictures of the homeless to lottery tickets to warn about the dangers of gambling addiction.
The new packaging for cigarettes is just a bad idea. Focusing on informing the public with real information rather than scare tactics is the best way to go. Allow adults to make an informed decision or just go ahead and make cigarettes illegal already, but don't flood everyone's eyes with depressing images.
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